Apparatus for the automatic wrapping of rotatable bodies

ABSTRACT

APPARATUS FOR THE AUTOMATIC WRAPPING OF ROTATABLE BODIES. THE BODIES ARE SUPPORTED AND MOVED INTO A WRAPPING POSITION LOCATED BENEATH A SUCTION ROLLER WHICH SUPPLIES A FOIL STRIP TO THE ROTATABLE BODY. THE FOIL STRIP MAY BE PRINTED ON AND IS AUTOMATICALLY FED TO THE SUCTION ROLLER BY VARIOUS ROLLER PAIRS. ALL OF THE OPERATIONS ARE CORRELATED SO AS TO INTERMITTENLY FEED A SINGLE ROTATABLE BODY TO A WRAPPING WORK STATION SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH THE FOIL STRIP. THE WRAPPED ROTATABLE BODY IS THEN CARRIED TO A DISCHARGE POINT ON THE APPARATUS.

May 1 H. POLLMEIER ETAL 3,580,790

APPARATUS FOR THE AUTOMATIC WRAPPING 0F ROTATABLE BODIES Filed April 23,1969 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR5 H POLLHE/ERQ J. WiTTHl/HN o v y,

APPARATUS FOR THE AUTOMATIC WRAPPING OF ROTATABLE BODIES s Sheets-Sheet2 Filed April 23. 1969 Q mm 8 w 1 Q mm a? WV/ EW/RF IN VENTORS H. Paws/24 J. M'rn/u/m/ May 25, 1971 PQLLMEIER ETAL I 3,580,790

APPARATUS FOR THE AUTOMATIC WRAPPING OF ROTATABLE BODIES Filed April 23,1969 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 May 25, 1971 POLLMEIER ETAL 3,580,790

APPARATUS FOR THE AUTOMATIC WRAPPING OF ROTATABLE BODIES Filed April 23,1969 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 FIG! INVENTORS H, Puma/H 4d. M' mww y 25, 1971 H.POLLMEIER T 3,580,790

APPARATUS FQR THE AUTOMATIC WRAPPING OF ROTATABLE BODIES Filed April as,1969 5 Sheets-Sheet a INVENTORS h. pOlL/IE/ER a J h/imvwm United StatesPatent O Klebetechnik GmbH, Dusseldorf, Germany Filed Apr. 23, 1969,Ser. No. 818,738 Claims priority, application Germany, May 6, 1968, P 1760 342.8 Int. Cl. B65c 3/16, 9/04 US. Cl. 156-521 12 Claims ABSTRACT OFTHE DISCLOSURE Apparatus for the automatic wrapping of rotatable bodies.The bodies are supported and moved into a wrapping position locatedbeneath a suction roller which applies a foil strip to the rotatablebody. The foil strip may be printed on and is automatically fed to thesuction roller by various roller pairs. All of the operations arecorrelated so as to intermittently feed a single rotatable body to aWrapping work station simultaneously with the foil strip. The wrappedrotatable body is then carried to a discharge point on the apparatus.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Industrial products such as electricalcomponents are frequently protected against mechanical, electrical orchemical influences by enclosure in a web of foil wrapping material.This material may be later removed or may actually become a permanentpart of the component being produced and packaged for the consumer.Suitable foil materials used for wrapping under these circumstances haveincluded various sorts of self-adhesive foil and plastic foil material.The self-adhesive foil has an adhesive substance on one side thereof andis coiled into rolls which may be readily stored and transported. Themechanical withdrawal of the adhesive foil from these rolls can lead todifficulties. The necessary force to withdraw the adhesive foil from asupply roll is variable and cannot be predetermined. Therefore thewithdrawal of the adhesive foil from the roll is extremely ditficultespecially if the withdrawal is intermittent. Another obvious diflicultyis in having the adhesive side of the foil remaining stuck to thevarious portions of the apparatus as it is being advanced toward thewrapping position of the apparatus. This problem not only deleteriouslyaffects the adhesive foil but also lowers the efficiency of theapparatus. Adhesive material sticking to working portions of theapparatus commonly occurs in the cutting operation. Here the adhesivebuilds up on the cutting blades thereby requiring regularly repeatedcleaning or changing of the blades.

PURPOSE OF THE INVENTION The primary object of this invention is toprovide an apparatus for the automatic Wrapping of rotatable bodies witha web of foil material.

Another object of this invention is to use the commonly knownself-adhesive foil material in a mechanical Wrapping process in a mannerto overcome the disadvantages as enumerated hereinabove.

A more specific object of this invention is to provide a mechanicalmeans including a suction roller'which will advance an adhesive stripintermittently without the adhesive side of the foil material beingadversely affected after it has left the supply roll.

A further object of this invention is to provide a suction roller whichhas a novel means for intermittently and synchronously feeding anadhesive strip and a rotatable 3,580,790 Patented May 25, 1971 ice bodyto a wrapping work position immediately adjacent said suction roller.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a suction rollerwhich is adaptable to foil material having various widths.

Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus using asuction roller which may wrap rotatable bodies automatically andeffectively on a mass production basis without requiring a highlyskilled or experienced operator.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The apparatus for automatic Wrapping ofrotatable bodies comprises a rotatably mounted suction roller working incooperation with a foil material feed means and a rotatable bodyadvancing means. Short strips of foil material are applied to a bodyrotating between the suction roller and a cooperating pressure producingmeans. The suction roller includes means for applying a vacuum to theweb of foil material to hold the foil directly on the surface of thesuction roller. Movement of the suction roller is synchronized with theadhesive foil material feed means and the rotatable body advancingmeans. A foil cutting means includes a knife edge to cut the foilmaterial into appropriate lengths for wrapping the rotatable bodies.

A further embodiment of the suction roller includes the use of anaxially movable slide which works in cooperation with openings locatedin the side wall of the suction roller. This movable slide controls thesuction along vari' ous web widths of foil material.

The apparatus of this invention includes feed means which willintermittently advance the web of foil to the suction roller. Theadvancing rolls include material in their construction that will notadversely alfect the adhesive characteristics of the foil. Plasticmaterial such as acetyl resin may be used on those portions which willnecessarily require contact with the adhesive on an adhesive carryingfoil material. This type of material may also be used on the wrappingapparatus which may come in contact with the adhesive.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS Other objects of this invention willappear in the following description and appended claims, reference beingmade to the accompanying drawings forming a part of the specificationwherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts in theseveral views.

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of an apparatus made in accordancewith this invention, and

FIG. la is a plan view of a condenser body which is being wrapped inthis apparatus,

FIG. 2 is a sectional view along the line IIII of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a partial sectional view along the line III-III of FIG. 1,

FIG. 4 is a rear elevational vieW of the apparatus made in accordancewith this invention, and

FIG. 5 is an exploded view of a suction roller made in accordance withthis invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS The feed track of the apparatus inthe specific embodiment includes conveyor chains 1 and 1a which rotatein synchronism with respect to each other. Uniformly spaced supports 2are mounted on the conveyor chains 1 and 1a. Condensers 3 which are therotatable bodies to be wrapped in this specific embodiment are set innotches 2a. The conveyor chains 1 and 1a are mounted over freelyrotatable chain wheels 7, 8 and 20 and move in the direction A asindicated by the arrows. The cylindrical body 21 of the condenser 3 iswrapped with the 3 two terminal wires 22 projecting outwardly from theends thereof. The terminal wires 22 are placed in the notches 2a of thesupports 2. As the conveyor chains 1 and 1a move, the cylindricalcondensers 3 are carried to a wrapping work station as shown in FIG. 1.After being wrapped, the condensers 3 are carried to a discharge pointlocated at the end of said conveyor chains 1 and 1a.

Chain wheel 8 is rigidly attached to the shaft 6 which is rotatablymounted at one end of frame sections 16 and 17. Chain wheel 7 is movablymounted on the shaft 6. The spring and groove combination 23 is used todisplace the chain wheel 7 in the direction of the axis of the shaft 6.A chain setting bolt 24 is mounted on the frame sections 16 and '17 in alaterally displaced and parallel relationship to the shaft 6. A handwheel 4 is mounted at one end of the setting bolt 24. A forkshapedsetting lever 5 is mounted on the threaded portion 11 of the settingbolt 24. The setting lever 5 is in contact with the chain wheel 7.Movement of the lever 5 along the threaded portion 11 moves the chainwheel 7 along the shaft 6. The control chain wheel 9 is rigidly mountedto setting bolt 24. By turning the hand wheel 4, the control chain wheel9 rotates the control chain 25. At the other end of the feed track, thedrive chain wheel is adjusted through the use of control chain andanother control chain wheel (not shown) which is mounted on anothercontrol belt (not shown). The drive chain wheel 20 is movably mounted onshaft 14a as the chain wheel 7 is mounted on shaft 6. The drive chainwheel 20 moves along its shaft in synchronism with the movement of thecontrol chain wheel 7 as it moves along the shaft 6. Conveyor chain 1 ismounted over chain wheels 20 and 7. The turning of the hand wheel 4thereby controls the parallel relationship between the conveyor chains 1and 1a which must always be in parallel relationship with each other. Inaddition, the spaced relationship of the conveyor chains 1 and 1a withrespect to each other is adjustable by turning the hand wheel 4. Theseadjustments enable the apparatus of this invention to be readilyadaptable to various sized cylindrical bodies which are to be wrapped atthe wrapping work station. It is important in this specific embodimentthat the chain wheel 8 which is fixedly mounted on the shaft 6 operatewith a corresponding counter wheel (not shown) at the other end of thefeed track with the same chain 1a mounted thereon forming to some extenta fixed stop. That is, the adjustment of the distance between theconveyor chains 1 and 1a can only be effected by movement of theconveyor chain 1.

The conveyor chains 1 and 1a are actuated by drive means which include acrank gear 13. The shaft 12 is rotatably mounted on the frame sections16 and 17 and carries means to actuate the pawl 15 in rhythym with theoperation of the apparatus. A ratchet wheel 14 is mounted on the shaft14a which carries the chain drive wheel 20. The wheel (not shown) whichworks in cooperation with the chain wheel 8 is also mounted on shaft 20.Actuation of the pawl 15 which cooperates with the ratchet wheel 14rotates the chain drive wheels mounted on shaft 20. This operationthereby moves the conveyor chains '1 and 1a through one operating stepin the feed direction of the apparatus. The shaft 12 is driven by thechain wheel 18 mounted thereon. A cam disc 10 mounted on the shaft 12 isused to control the pressure rolls 25 and 26 which are freely rotatablebelow the suction roller 31. The pressure rolls 25 and 26 are rotatablymounted on lever arm 27 which extends along the feed direction A. Thelever arm 27 includes a slightly cranked portion 28 which carries acontrol roller 29. The arm may be fixed to either of the frame sections16 and 17 by a bearing 30 in any well known manner. The cam disc 10 isshaped to carry the control roller 29 in rolling contact so that thepressure rolls 25 and 2-6 lift a condenser 3 against the suction roller31. The shape of the cam disc 10 is efl ected in any manner known in theprior art. The cylindrical portion 21 of the condenser 3 rolls againstthe suction roller 31 until it is wrapped in adhesive foil 40. Once thecondenser 3 has been wrapped, it is lowered to its support 2 by way ofthe movement of the lever arm 27 and pressure rolls 25 and 26 in adownward direction. The wrapped condensers 3 are dropped by way of aguide plate 32 at the discharge end of the apparatus. The wrappedcondensers 3 may be either placed into a container or fed to a conveyorbelt, neither of which are shown but which may be used in an obviousmanner at the discharge end of the apparatus.

While the condensers 3 are being moved along the apparatus of thisspecific embodiment, the web of adhesive foil 40 is moved along in asynchronous manner therewith. The web of adhesive foil 40 is withdrawnfrom a supply roll 31b which is mounted on a roller generally designated31a. The roller 31a is fixedly mounted on a shaft 34 which is rotatablysupported by the frame member 35. Brake means are operably connected tothe roller 31a to enable the supply roll 31b to rotate only under anadjustable withdrawal force. By this arrangement, the withdrawal forcewhich exceeds a specifically high friction force can be kept exceedinglysmall.

The brake means in this particular embodiment includes a combination ofplate springs 32a and a friction brake 37. The plate springs 32a aremounted on shaft 34 to place the said shaft 34 under axial tension. Thetension of the plate springs 32a is adjustable by the setting screws 33.This tension from the plate springs 32a is transmitted to the frictionbrake 37 by way of the axially tensioned shaft 34. The withdrawal roller31a is rotatably mounted with bearings 38 and 39 located in spacedrelationship on the frame structure 35. The adhesive strip 40 can beeasily inserted or changed from the side of the apparatus as shown inthis specific embodiment due to this manner of mounting the saidwithdrawal roller 31a. The construction of this apparatus enables allparts to be clearly visible and readily accessible if trouble developsin the operation of the apparatus. To change the supply roll 3112, thenut 36 is removed from shaft 34. The flange 41 is then drawn from thewithdrawal roller 3111 so that the supply roll 31b is accessible.

The adhesive strip 40 is fed to a pair of rolls generally designated 42and 42a. The roll 42 is on the adhesive side of the tape 40 andcomprises an acetyl resin. The other roll 42a is made of flexible rubberin this specific embodiment. The pair of rolls 42 and 42a act as afriction brake. Movement of the adhesive foil 40 is effected by a feeddevice which is subsequently located in the strip feed direction andovercomes a specific pre-tension in the foil 40. To accomplish thispurpose, the roll 42a is freely rotatable. The roll 42 is rotatablymounted by bearings 44 and 45 on shaft 49 which is rigidly attached tothe frame portion 47. Spring plates 43 are mounted on the same shaft 49and apply a tension to the roll 42. This tension provides a brakingmoment which is adjustable through the setting screw 51. The springplates 43 act on friction brake 48 having one brake disc 48a in contactwith the rubber cylinder 50 carried by roll 42. Axial bearings 46 aremounted on the side of the cylinder 50 remote from the spring plates 43.These axial bearings 46 absorb the axial pressures applied by the springplates 43.

The adhesive foil 40 next passes between a lower rubber roll 52 and anupper roll 53 mounted at a slightly dissplaced distance from each other.Each of the rolls 52 and 53 are cylindrical. The upper roll 53 has anacetyl resin cylindrical segment 54 projecting beyond the cylindercasing 53a. The upper roll 53 cooperates with the sticky side of theadhesive strip 40. The cylindrical segment 54 is detachable andtherefore very easily changed. The segment 54 is held in the cylindercasing 53a by a screw 55. The shaft is rotatably mounted in the bearings58 and 59 on the frame parts 57 and 56, respectively.

The shaft 60 carries the roll 53 and is driven from the drive side ofthe apparatus by way of the cog wheel 61. Each time the roll 53 rotates,the adhesive strip 40 is contacted by the cylindrical segment 54. Theadhesive strip 40 adheres to the surface of the cylindrical segment 54and is moved along by an amount corresponding to the peripheral lengthof the cylindrical segment 54. The movement of the adhesive strip 40 iseffected against the frictional force of the pair of rolls 42 and 42aand the frictional force of the supply roll 31a. The length of adhesivestrip 40 which may be fed at each stroke of the apparatus can clearly bevaried by replacing the cylindrical segment 54 with other segmentshaving a larger or smaller size along its periphery.

A small rotatably mounted roll 62 is disposed above the web of foil 40immediately following the pair of rolls 52 and 53. As the adhesive strip40 continues to move in the feed direction, the roll 62 serves to drawdown any of the foil strip 40 which adheres to the cylindrical segment54.

A further feature of this embodiment includes a pair of rolls 63 and 64which cooperate to produce printing on the web of adhesive foil 40. Theprinting roll 63 of this embodiment carries a printing plate 65. Thisprinting roll 63 rotates in synchronism with the roll 53 carrying thecylindrical segment 54 and exerts very little or no feeding force atall. The printing roll 63 is rotatably mounted in bearings 66 and 67within the frame portions 56 and 57, respectively. The cog wheel 68 ismounted on shaft 95 and used to drive the printing roll 63. Shaft 95also carries a chain wheel 69 which drives a further chain wheel 71 witha chain 70 to effect movement of the suction roller 31. A set of inkingrolls 72, 73 and 74 effects the ink coating of the printing plate 65during each revolution of the printing roll 63. An obvious alternativeof providing any printed material on the particular product beingwrapped is to print directly on the product itself and then usetransparent adhesive foil in the wrapping process.

After printing, the adhesive strip 40 moves in the feed direction to thesuction roller 31 which is shown in detail in FIG. 5. The suction roller31 comprises a cylindrical roller body 75 having one-half of its casingprovided with a plurality of openings 76. The roller 31 includesbearings 77 and airtight sealed end walls 78 at each end face thereof.The roller 31 is rotatable about a rigidly mounted shaft 79. A partialcylinder member 81 is fixedly attached to the shaft 79 with the threadedmember 80. The hollow cylinder member 81 has a partially open casing andis axially adjustable within the body 75. Means are provided to reducethe pressure within the partially open casing of the hollow cylindermember 81 to thereby suck external air into the roller 31 through theopenings 76. A vacuum pump (not shown) may be connected to the suctionroller 31 in a manner known in the prior art to obtain the desiredsuction effect at the openings 76. Therefore, when a segment of theadhesive strip 40 lies on the roll 75 over the opening 76, a suction isexerted thereon along the area of the roll 75 cooperating with the openpartial cylinder member 81. The partial cylinder member 81 is equal toabout one-half the length of the suction roller body 75. The rows ofopenings 76 also extend over about one-half the length of the suctionroller body 75. Therefore, when the partial cylinder member 81 is openedto- -ward all the rows of openings 76, the suction roller 31 iseffective for the maximum width of the adhesive foil strip 40 contactingthe said roller body 75. On retraction of the partial cylinder member 81into the unperforated portion of the roller 75, no suction is applied tothe adhesive strip 40. When the apparatus of this invention is used witha narrow foil strip 40, the partial cylinder member 81 is located inabout the middle portion of the roller body 75. Those openings 76covered by the foil strip 75 are effectively applying suction thereto.

The partial cylinder member 81 of this specific embodiment does not turnwith the suction roller body 75.

The open section of the cylinder member 81 always points in thedirection of the hole openings 76 onto which the foil strip 40 is beingheld by a suction force. This rela tionship always provides an effectivesuction that is fully utilized on the adhesive foil strip 40. No air canenter the suction roller 31 through the openings 76 which are disposedbeyond the edges of the adhesive foil strip 40.

A further embodiment of the structure of the suction roller 31contemplates the use of a tunnel-shaped masking member 82 which isaxially displaceable inside the opening of the partial cylinder member81. The masking member 82 is used to mask off part of the surface of theopen casing in the cylinder member 81.

The shaft 79 projects from the housing of the suction roller 31 andcarries marking rings 83. These marking rings 83 are displaced withrespect to each other a distance substantially equal to the spacingbetween the rolls of suction openings 76. In this way it is possible forthe machine operator to tell from the outside of the roller body 75which rows of openings 76 are not under the influence of the reducedpressure in the partial cylinder member 81. An operating handle 84 ismounted at the end of the shaft 79 so as to effect movement of thecylinder member 81 within the cylindrical roller body 7 5.

Cog wheel 89 is mounted on the shaft as a further means for driving thesuction roller 31. The chain 70 passing over the chain wheels 69 and 71is used to turn the shaft 85 and thereby rotate the cog Wheel 89. Anumber of teeth are omitted along a disengaged position 90 on the cogwheel 89. The cog wheel 91 which cooperates and meshes with cog Wheel 89is fixedly mounted on shaft 92 which carries the suction roller 31. Cogwheel 91 has a large tooth gap including a tooth 93 disposed at aboutthe center of the gap. When the disengaged position 90 of cog wheel 89and the tooth gap of cog wheel 91 are in corresponding relationship, thesuction roller 31 is held in a desired position for a specific period oftime.

The suction roller 31 is held in position as shown in FIG. 1 while thehardened plate 94 cooperates with the cutter blade 95b during thecutting operation. This cutting period in the operation of the apparatusis maintained until the next tooth 95a strikes the tooth 93 as shown inFIG. 4. Qnce the tooth portion of cog wheel 89 comes in contact with thetooth 93, cog wheel 91 is rotated thereby turning the suction roller 31through the drive shaft 92. A segment of the web of foil 40 is formed ina layer along the surface of the suction roller 31. During the cuttingperiod, the cutter 95 acts in cooperation with the hardened metal 94 tobreak the foil 40 before it is applied to the rotatable body 3. As thesuction roller 31 continues to rotate, the foil 40 is wrapped about therotatable body 3 which is under pressure between the pressure rollers 24and 26 and the suction roller 31.

The control means for the cutting bade 95b includes a cam disc 88 whichis contacted by the control wheel 96. Cam disc 88 is fixedly mounted onshaft 85. Movement of the cam disc 88 is effected by rotation of shaft85-. Control wheel 96 is mounted on lever arm 98. When the suctionroller 31 is in a position as shown in FIG. 1, the cutter blade 95 isactuated by the lever arm 98 which is moved when the control wheel 96moves over the cam disc 88. The hardened knife tip 97 of the cuttingblade 95b strikes against the hardened plate 94 to effect the cutting ofthe foil 40. The cutting blade 95b as used in this specific embodimentfalls under its own weight from a relatively small height onto thehardened plate 94 of suction roller 31. No additional force is requiredfor cutting in this specific embodiment. Once the cutting has beenaccomplished, the blade 95b lifts due to the cooperating surfaces of thecam 88 and control roll 96. The cutting knife tip 97 meets the adhesiveside of the foil 40 very briefly and only linearly. In this manner, theadhesive on the foil 40 can only smear the knife tip 97 very slightly.Therefore, the cutting blade 95b need not be cleaned as 7 frequently asthose cutting devices used in other operations involving the cutting ofadhesive strips.

The power for driving the apparatus in accordance with this invention issupplied by a motor 96a which drives the cog wheel 98a through thegearing 97a as schematically shown in FIG. 4. Cog wheel 98a engages cogWheel 99 which is mounted with chain wheel 100 on a common shaft (notnumbered). The drive chain 101 passes around the chain wheel 100 and thechain wheel 18 to drive the shaft 12. Movement of the shaft 12 rotatesthe cam disc to thereby actuate the pawl 15 through the action of thecrank drive 13.

As soon as the power motor 96a is switched on, the conveyor chains 1 and1a are intermittently advanced by a distance equal to the space existingbetween the successively placed supports 2. This moves a rotatable body3 into the wrapping position between the pressure rollers and 26 and thesuction roll 31. Cog wheel 99 also engages the cog wheel 102 which isoperably connected with a magnetically actuable coupling 103. The outputside of the magnetically actuable coupling 103 is coaxially fastened tothe drive chain wheel 108. The magnetically actuable coupling 103 isactivated in response to an output signal of a feeler (not shown) whichdetects the presence of a rotatable body 3 below the suction roller 31.That is, the feeler determines when a rotatable body 3 is in thewrapping position. The magnetically actuable coupling 103 therebyeffectively drives pressure roll 52 when the rotatable body 3 isdetected in the wrapping position. The drive chain 104 passes over thedrive chain wheels 108 and 105. The chain wheel 105 turns the cog wheel106 which engages cog wheel 107 which drives cog wheel 109. Contactbetween the cog Wheel 109 and the corresponding driving means of shaft96 thereby rotates the pressure roll 52. The shaft 60 which carries roll53 is simultaneously driven by cog wheel 61 in a direction opposite tothe direction of rotation for roll 52. The movement of the pair of rolls52 and 53 effects the advance of adhesive strip 40. The cog wheel 68 isdriven in the same direction of rotation as cog wheel 69 by way of theintermediate cog 110 placed therebetween. The chain 70 which is placedover chain wheels 69 and 71 is moved when the cog wheel 68 rotates.Movement of the chain 70 actuates the turning of the shaft 85 throughthe chain wheel 71 thereby rotating the cog wheel 89. The cog wheel 68engages the cog wheel 111 which turns shaft 95 thereby rotating thepressure roll 64 for printing on the foil adhesive strip 40. The suctionroller 31 starts moving at the same time as the printing rolls 63 and 64and the pressure feed rolls 52 and 53. The arrows on each of the rollsindicate the direction of rotation. The rotation of the feed rolls 52and 53 causes the adhesive strip 40 to be fed to the suction roller 31by way of the roll segment 54. Once the cutter blade 95b has separated asegment from the adhesive foil strip 40, the suction roller 31 continesto move. The adhesive strip 40 is thereby pressed aginst the rotatablebody 3 which is located in the wrapping position as shown in FIG. 1.Once the wrapping has been completed, the pressure rolls 25 and 26 lowerthe rotatable body 3 through the crank drive mechanism which includesthe crank drive 13 to thereby effect the beginning of another cycle. Itis emphasized that the conveyor chains 1 and 1a act to move therotatable bodies to the wrapping position in an intermittent manner assoon as the main drive motor 96a is switched on. The rest of theoperations providing the feeding of the adhesive roll 40, the subsequentprinting, cutting and wrapping are initiated by the magnetic coupling103 once the rotatable body 3 is located in the wrapping position.

It is obvious that the apparatus as described and claimed in thisinvention may be used to wrap any type of rotatable body. The precisefitting of the wrapping to the contours of the workpiece may or may notbe of significance. This is obviously dependent upon the rotatableobject being wrapped. In packaging many articles it does not mat- '8 terif the foil does not lie against the entire periphery of the packagedarticle.

While the apparatus for automatic wrapping of rotatable bodies has beenshown and described in detail, it is obvious that this invention is notto be considered as being limited to the exact form disclosed, and thatchange-s in detail and construction may be made therein within the scopeof the invention, without departing from the spirit thereof.

Having thus set forth and disclosed the nature of this invention, whatis claimed is:

1. An apparatus for the automatic Wrapping of rotatable bodies with aweb of foil material comprising (a) a rotatable body transport means tointermittently move said rotatable bodies to a wrapping work sta tion,

(b) a suction roller at said wrapping work station in cluding a bodycasing having openings therethrough extending over a portion of theperiphery,

(0) means to produce a suction along the surface of the roller forholding a web of foil material against said roller surface,

(d) pressure producing means to remove each of said rotatable bodiesfrom said transport means at said work station and to press each of saidrotatable bodies against the surface of said suction roller in rotatablerelationship therewith, said pressure producing means including apressure element located below said suction roller and means to movesaid suction roller and said pressure element toward each other, and

(e) web feed means to intermittently feed segments of a web of foilmaterial to said wrapping work station synchronously with said rotatablebody transport means, said web feed means including means for supportinga storage supply roll of the foil material and a pair of feed rolls towithdraw the web of foil material from the supply roll and advance ittoward the suction roller, said feed rolls comprising means tointermittently advance said web of foil material including a segmentalportion projecting beyond at least one of the feed rolls to contact theweb of foil material,

(f) whereby said body rotates against the surface of said suction rollwhile carrying the Web of foil material causing said foil material to bewrapped around said rotatable body.

2. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said apparatus includessensing means located at said wrapping work station to feel a rotatable'body when present at said work station,

means responsive to said sensing means to actuate said web feed means tocause said suction roller to contact said rotatable body with a segmentof said web of foil material.

3. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said web of foil materialcomprises an adhesive strip having an adhesive material on one side,

said feed roll having said segmental portion and being located on theadhesive side of the strip,

said segmental portion being composed of a plastic material which willnot adversely affect said adhesive when the segmental portion is incontact therewith during a foil feeding operation of the apparatus.

4. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 further comprising a crank drive,said pressure element including a pair of freely rotatable rolls whichcarry the rotatable body free of the transport means, and said pressureproducing means including a lever arm which moves in response to saidcrank drive to actuate said pair of rolls for lifting the rotatable bodyat the work station upwardly into contact with the suction roller.

5. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said suction rollerincludes an axially extending plate of hardened material and saidapparatus includes blade means having a cutting edge mounted andoperative to strike and out said foil material in cooperation with saidhardened plate and means to control said blade means.

6. An apparatus as defined in claim wherein said suction roller includesan axially movable, partially open member located within said casing,

said partially open member directing a suction eifect to a limitednumber of holes to provide for the handling of webs of foil materialhaving differing widths.

7. An apparatus as defined in claim 5 wherein said apparatus includesdrive means to rotate said suction roller when said pressure element isin contact therewith.

8. An apparatus as defined in claim 7 wherein said suction roller drivemeans include a driven cog wheel mounted with the suction roller on afirst shaft and a driving cog wheel mounted on a laterally displacedsecond shaft,

said driven cog wheel has a substantially tooth-free gap along itsperiphery with a single tooth located at substantially the center ofsaid gap,

said driving cog wheel has a completely tooth-free position along itsperiphery,

said blade means operates to cut said web of foil material when saidtooth-free gaps are adjacent each other during the operation of therespective cog wheels.

9. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said apparatus includes apair of brake rollers located between the supply roll and said feedrolls to provide a tension in the web of foil material.

10. An apparatus as defined in claim 9 wherein said apparatus includes apair of rolls located between the feed rolls and suction roller toprovide means for printing on the web of foil material passingtherebetween. 11. An apparatus as defined in claim 9 wherein said feedrolls and said brake rolls are mounted in bear- 5 ings on a frame memberalong one side of the rolls only,

the boundary of the rolls adjacent the bearing side acts as a referenceedge for the web of foil.

12. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said pressure producingmeans comprises pivoted lever means, two pairs of rolls mounted on saidlever means, said pairs being axially spaced apart, and means to movesaid lever means and cause said pairs of rolls to lift a rotatable bodyfrom said transport means, press said rotatable body against saidsuction roller during wrapping and then return the wrapped rotatablebody to said transport means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS SAMUEL FEINBERG, Primary ExaminerJ. M. HANLEY, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 156-185, 458, S67

